WAY OT - Fickells get pizza boy fired

Apparently, some high school kid that works at a pizzeria in Ohio took an order from Mrs. Luke Fickell. Late in the call, he mentioned that OSU needs to work on their tackling (an astute observation) to the DC's wife.

I would bet monopoly millions that if the D continues to struggle and is poorly rated regardless of how OSU finishes up then Meyer finds a new DC. Remember, he's used to having folks like Mr. Mattison in that role. Meyer wants always to be able to say that he has the best coaches and to have one key area being underated will give him the narrative to make that decision.

and proceeded to dismantle them. This was a defensive group that turned out riducolous defenses for over a decade... most of them gone in a heart beat. He will be lucky to establish a group that talented again.

I think tressel had much more to do with the defensive success than anybody else who was left at OSU, so i wouldnt call them an amazing staff. I mean look at the saints without sean payton, the head coach makes a big impact.

I mean, it depends on how he said it. He probably shouldn't say it at all, but if it was meant as like a light-hearted joke and the Fickells got all butt hurt and serious about it, then they come off dickish for getting him fired. If he was just being flat out insulting, then I understand.

Fickell is co-defensive coordinator and linebacker position coach, so he's definitely in charge of teaching the LBs how to tackle. Outside of that, I'm not sure how the DC duties are divided, except that Fickell is in charge of playcalling.

In all seriousness, the guy probably should have kept his mouth shut. Don't say things to customers that could be taken as an insult. That said, a major college coach needs to learn how to let this kind of thing go. Both of them were wrong. So Ohio.

these days are a bit more likely to push the envelope. He did and lost. I'm not surprised he got canned in buckeye country, questioning the coaches wife on a pizza?? LOL, Easy to replace a pizza worker; don't want to lose coach's business.

The funniest thing about the story is the drastically different sides to it. And I love that OSU's public relations department gets involved in this silly little thing. They don't teach their kids to keep their mouths shut (see all of the past and current players that tweet and say stupid things) but they get involved in the Pizza Incident. Idiots.

questioning Mr. Willhouse. He could have gone to OSU's AD and complained. He was in no position to raise the issue at all, ESPECIALLY with the coach's wife, as she is not a football coach and was just trying to order some damn food. Being a season ticket holder has nothing to do with it in this instance. Whatever the case, it appears it was the manager who took the greatest offense at the employee's conduct. While I hate OSU, I don't think they can be correctly characterized as a "substandard product" as they are undefeated.

Newsflash: The guy in the story was not the delivery guy... he was the order taking guy. Fault this guy for trying to extend a joke a little too far, but at least understand the joke before you fault him.

Without proper context, I can't say if this is an appropriate response, but my initial thought is that this is such an overreaction. Oh, your husband has a public job, and a kid in the public criticizses it? Let's get him fired! Just seems like a silly thing to do.

The thing about the situation that makes Fickell look bad is that the kid's boss heard the comment, and didn't fire him on the spot (had it been something offensive, he would have). The boss then called the Fickell's and asked if the boy deserved to be fired, and they said yes.

The Fickell's could have easily been understanding and said he was just a kid and didn't need to be fired. He obviously a Buckeye fan if he knew enough to comment. This just makes them look like assholes. "What, a kid said something bad about me? Fire him!"

I don't think anyone thinks the kid should have opened his mouth. The problem I have is that the boss didn't feel he needed to be fired until the Fickell's said he should be. Coaches are supposed to be molders of men and what not, but they get pizza boys fired for saying something he probably shouldn't have?

As a parent, I would never do this. I would probably tell the kid myself that he made a poor decision, then tell his boss it was no big deal. He's a kid, he doesn't need to lose his job. Some of the best lessons I learned were situations where I could have lost my job but didn't. It's clear the Fickell's didn't want the kid to learn from this, they just wanted to use their position to get him canned. Makes Fickell look very childish, to me.

How do you know how he was fired? For all you know, the wife relayed the story to Luke. Luke called and complained just to let the manager know that the kid needed to work on customer service. Then the manager canned him because he a) overreacted or b) the kid was a repeat offender.

I think there's a very good chance that this story is being blown out of proportion.

Sorry, pal, but the media always reports stories accurately and responsibly. And on the rare occasions they don't, the story would never make it through the extensive screening process for posting on the MGoBoard.

Granted, from a customer service standpoint, that isn't the best thing to say to someone, especially if you know that it is a higher profile customer like Mrs. Luke Fickell (of the Shawnee Hills Fickells), but if the team is yielding an average of 5.4 yards per play on defense and 386 yards per game and has fewer TFL than anyone else in the conference at the moment, then it's actually a good observation and this seems like the sort of thing that Fickell should take to heart rather than raise a stink about.

It comes down to customer service. Granted, it's a pizza delivery service, but there needs to be some level of professionalism bcuz it's a business. Maybe someone will train this kid at his next job to have respect for customers. Maybe a position where he doesn't have to deal with customers at all like...Arby's.

I have had my issues with Papa John's pizza delivery this year. I'm happy if the pizza is still warm and has the correct toppings and the place is only 3 doors away. Just be glad some kid paid enough attention to get your order right.

Ohio State has refuted the employee's account of the incident. A statement from the university, via Dave Briggs of the Toledo Blade, said that the Fickells didn't complain to the owner, and that they "feel terrible that this person lost his job."

"The manager found out about the incident. The manager called the Fickells. Just like they did not place a call to complain, they also did not ask that anyone be fired. All they did was order pizza."

I'm not sure exactly what happened. Even though I'm not an Ohio fan in any way, shape, or form, I find it doubtful that Luke Fickell or his wife have such a thin skin. This is a fun story, especially for Michigan fans, but I'd be dubious. Unverified voracity indeed.

This thread, its title, and the vast majority of posts herein, are completely baseless, if the (thus far uncotroverted) additional reporting is correct. Per Kyle Rowland who summed it up as succinctly as a single Tweet would require:

Here's the PizzaGate story, per OSU:

§ A slight (or a flippant remark or an inappropriate comment) was made by an employee of a retail establishment to Mrs. Fickell.

§ The Fickells DID NOT call the manager to complain.

§ The manager found out about the incident (presumably from someone at the restaurant).

§ The manager called the Fickells … to ask what was said by his employee. They told him.

§ And just like they did not place a call to complain, they also did not ask that anyone be fired. In fact, they feel terrible that this person lost his job.

All they did was order pizza.

So, no. The Fickells didn't "get [anybody] fired." The Fickells didn't "overreact," as some here claimed. The Fickells didn't even complain, as far as I am aware. They ordered pizza, heard from a cranky pizza-boy, and later answered a question from a manager. The Fickells don't have much of anything to answer for, and if one were to weed out all of the wrong, baseless, over-reacting posts in this thread, there wouldn't be much left.

The only real nugget of information is an appreciation of the college football bubble that encases Columbus. It might explain why Kirk Herbstreit whose perceived lack of loyalty to tOSU program led him to leave town; he's far more high profile than the Luke Fickell. In most places this would have been all put down to one uberfan mouthing off and it would have died out. The OSU team is unbeaten and has looked OK, certainly good enough to challenge for the title (although ineligible).

And I've even compiled a handy guide to Ann Arbor pizzas for anyone else from New York:

1. Just don't eat any of them. Unless the other option is human waste, or you're from north of Albany and already used to the inferior pie.
2. Have your family overnight a pie from home or bring it with them when they visit. Even frozen or slightly stale, it will still beat anything from Michigan.

Your last question is interesting. I'd say almost never. What makes one think they're entitled to walk up to a stranger and tell them they suck at their job? Free speech and all, but if I own stock in Google I don't feel the need to tell someone I bump into at the bar who just came from their offices that they suck at what they do if it took a hit on Wall Street this week. And I'd probably be more invested in that financially than being a season ticket holder. Or like most fans, guys who just watch on tv. Not to mention unless you have access to the CEO/coach, I'm not sure most of the other guys have real control over the direction of the program. And I certainly wouldn't be telling some guy's wife that her husband produces a crappy product.

Not saying you can't have any say as a fan....I mean, we are on a sports blog posting board. But even here directly trashing a person is discouraged, and we try and keep it to the product.

maybe the Fickell's are a fickled family that flounders fiercely when faced with fabricating fibs told by fair fellows that ferociously fight their fellow Fickell's with fallacious falsehoods ? Fancy that !

I thought it was really unprofessional of the pizza boy to criticize Luke Fickell's work in front of his wife. He's a human being just like the rest of us. Sure, That's My Boy and Jack & Jill were below par, but I thought Happy Gilmore and You Don't Mess With the Zohan were terrific.

I think Fickell is teaching poor tackling technique on purpose. Not only did Urban Meyer take his (temporary) job, but said that if it was possible to get Mattison, he would. This won't end well when Michigan rolls Ohio in Columbus.....